This week the New York City Council’s land use committee okayed the redevelopment of Spofford Juvenile Detention Center, a vacant former jail complex in the South Bronx’s Hunts Point neighborhood. The committee’s approval marks one of the final hurdles in a long-sought transformation of the site into a mini-village of affordable housing, stores, restaurants, and plenty of outdoor space.
The development, officially known as The Peninsula, is being designed by New York’s WXY and Body Lawson Associates. The city-led project will feature 740 units of 100 percent affordable housing surrounded by 52,000 square feet of open space, around 18,000 square feet of health and wellness services, ground floor retail, 48,000 square feet of space for co-working spaces and a small business incubator, and almost 50,000 square feet set aside for light industrial uses.
The $300 million project was first revealed in late 2016, and since then, it’s acquired a fresh set of renderings, some of which are pictured here. It will be built in four stages: Phase 1A, YIMBY reported, will break ground this spring, and is scheduled for completion by 2019. Phase IB will be complete by the first quarter of 2021, while phases II and III will be done by 2022 and 2024, respectively.
Later this month, the full City Council will vote on the project.
